The Green Witch at the Threshold

Session One

October 13, 2026

The Room Has Always Known

Introducing the green witch tradition, the dying room, and the plants that have always been there.

• Who the green witch is: not fringe, not theatrical. The woman who knows things.
• Stregheria and the Italian lineage: agricultural, earth-based, passed grandmother to granddaughter
• Why nature-based practice belongs in death work: the nervous system, the environment, the room
• The four-element altar: light, plant, stone, water. Starting the toolkit.
• Plant medicine for the dying room: lavender, rosemary, salt, mugwort (introduction)
• Science alongside the old ways: what the research actually says about plant aromatherapy and the dying
• Practice: building your first vigil altar
• Closing ritual: lighting a candle for someone who is crossing or has crossed

Session Two

October 20, 2026

What the Body Knows

Deep plant work, the science of transition, and what happens at the threshold.

• The herb compendium for the dying: going deeper with each plant
• Lavender: the full science, the full history, practical application in the room
• Rosemary: memory, grief, Continuing Bonds Theory, and why we carry it to the grave
• Mugwort: the liminal herb, dreaming, the in-between, and how to work with it
• Additional plants: yarrow, thyme, elderflower, what each one carries
• Making simple preparations: bundles, teas, oils, sachets. Nothing that requires a cauldron.
• The death room as sensory medicine: sound, scent, touch, light
• Practice: building a grief-specific herb bundle for a client or family member
• Discussion: when clients or families are hesitant. How to offer without imposing.

Session Three

October 27, 2026

Rites, Rituals, and the Traditions That Held This

Death rites from Stregheria and beyond, body preparation, and the sacred practices that have always lived at the threshold.

• What ritual actually is: a process, a vehicle, a way of saying this moment is sacred
• What we lost when we handed death to institutions, and how we get it back
• The ancestor altar in practice: building one, maintaining one, using one in grief work
• Saying their name: the research on speaking the names of the dead and its effect on grief outcomes
• Body preparation as sacred practice: washing, wrapping, the shroud
• Keening and vocalized mourning: what the body needs to do with grief
• Sitting vigil: not fixing, not managing. Just witnessing.
• Practice: designing a simple threshold ritual for a current or upcoming client
• Discussion: navigating family and cultural differences at the deathbed

Session Four

November 3, 2026

The Green Burial and the Body's Return

Green and natural burial options, wrapping the body, ecological death care, and building your complete threshold practice.

• The body as a gift back to the earth: the green witch understanding of what death is
• Green burial in practice: shrouds, simple graves, natural cemeteries, human composting
• What is legal, what is available, what it costs. The practical knowledge doulas need.
• How to support a family who wants to participate in body preparation and burial
• Wrapping a body: how it is done, what it means, how to guide a family through it
• Green burial conversations: how to raise the option without imposing a framework
• Building your complete green witch toolkit: what goes in your bag, your practice, your presence
• Your threshold practice: making it personal, making it sustainable, making it yours
• Live integration: participants share one piece they are taking into their practice
• Closing: the ending is a beginning. Sending the cohort out.